Technology Blog

Steve FitzGerald of LakewoodBuzz.com emails this Washington Post article and comments:

this is an amazing split decision that implicates every square inch of America. By a vote of 5 to 4 today, the U.S. Supreme Court majority ruled to allow cities to use eminent domain powers to take property from homeowners to convey to private developers, legally in the name of economic development and “public use.” Here are three good reads on this important and far-reaching decision: a Washington Post story not legalese, the official Supreme Court ruling, and a forum discussion in Lakewood which came very close to being the eminent domain case before the High Court…

Comments?

See this post @ WorldChanging.com as well.

This post was written by George, source: Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes

Interesting post by Tim Russo:

After getting thrown out of Jane Campbell’s gala opening at the Galleria yesterday for wearing my blue Walmart smock, I was standing outside with my other smock wearers, when out walked John Kilbane, Business Manager for Building Trades Local 310. Kilbane walked across the street to where we were standing and gave us his strategy for fighting Walmart.

“You know how you fight Walmart? You wait until they open, wait until they build the thing, and then you go after them. I don’t approve of your tactics now, but after the thing is built, we’ll be right with you.”

Tim also pointed out that it was convienent for Campbell to put her campaign office inside a building like the mall, when most other candidates have their office where the public can access them. An apt metaphor for the siege mentality that’s set in.

What’s our democracy becoming?

“I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” - James A. Baldwin

I feel the same way about Cleveland. How do you feel?

This post was written by George, source: Unions and the politics of development

CASE’s VP of ITS updates his blog (after about a month with A Billion Internet Users — Civic Engagement and Information Poverty. An excerpt:

This week, Cleveland hosts a national gathering of community technology centers. Cleveland welcomes community technologists from around the country. When we look for coalitions to work together to make a difference in our communities sometimes the obvious pieces do not fall into place.

There is a long standing consensus that civic engagement is directly proportionate to the level of education of the citzenry along with intervening variables like the number of civic action groups, news outlets/sources, and political organizations.

Community technologists across the country and the university community need to be stronger allies in pursuit of a common goal. Case Western Reserve University is pleased to be able to host some of the activities of the CTC in collaboration with OneCleveland.

The more educated our communities the better positioned they are to taking ownership of their own futures. Let’s continue to find ways of working together.

That emphasis is mine. I was at Bill Callahan’s after hours event the other day. I’ll be podcasting it as soon as split it up into three parts.

By the way, I’m not sure if Lev posted 4 more things as drafts, but you might want to take a look at some of the articles showing up in his feed.

This post was written by George, source: Lev Gonick on fighting poverty

John Ettorre posts this announcement on his blog:

On June 14th, the Cleveland Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, in partnership with an emerging alliance of bloggers who live in and write about Northeast Ohio, hosts Professor Heywood Sanders for a program that explores what has been called a municipal convention center arms race, and how it has been covered by the media. The session begins at 6 p.m., at Cleveland artist Hector Vega’s Artefino Gallery, which has graciously donated the meeting space. The sponsors are proud to offer this important program on a vital public issue (quickly coming to a head in Cleveland) free and to open it to the general public. Participants, however, are encouraged to purchase food and/or beverages at the gallery. A day later, Dr. Sanders will appear at the City Club of Cleveland, where he is scheduled to debate Anthony Coyne, who chairs the City of Cleveland’s Planning Commission.

Over the past decade, public capital spending on convention centers in the U.S. has doubled to $2.4 billion annually, increasing convention space by over 50 percent since 1990. Nationwide, 44 new or expanded convention centers are now in planning or construction.

Please, please, please be there. It’s crucial that this issue gets talked about - because it’s another “economic development” program that’s getting the rubberstamp treatment. Will it stand up to the scrutiny of professional journalists and Ohio North East Bloggers?

This post was written by George, source: Calling all bloggers

An afterthought to this post, creating dependencies on tax revenue from casinos or retail is as about as sustainable as being dependent on the ones from manufacturing and heavy industry…

This post was written by George, source: Addicted to tax revenue

Talk about economic development:

In a report released today, Dr. Jeffrey Miron, visiting professor of economics at Harvard University, estimates that replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation similar to that used for alcoholic beverages would produce combined savings and tax revenues of between $10 billion and $14 billion per year. In response, a group of more than 500 distinguished economists — led by Nobel Prize-winner Dr. Milton Friedman — released an open letter to President Bush and other public officials calling for “an open and honest debate about marijuana prohibition,” adding, “We believe such a debate will favor a regime in which marijuana is legal but taxed and regulated like other goods.”

Maybe the tobacco companies need to start lobbying congress for a new product. It would do more for Ohio then casinos, don’t you think?

This post was written by George, source: $10-$14 Billion annually

Please read the extended entry regarding a grassroot economic development intitiative in encouraging.

This post was written by George, source: BFD RFC

From the Wake-Up Wal-Mart Blog:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is apologizing for a newspaper ad featuring a photo of a book-burning in Nazi-era Germany. The ad was published in a northern Arizona newspaper by a political action committee the company helped fund…

Please click through and read the comments on this one.

This post was written by George, source: What kind of PAC is WalMart funding?

Excerpts from Daniella:

They just ruin small towns, he said… “You’re talking nostalgia there buddy, what is wrong about paying less for a product? People can have more money in their pockets…“No, no, he said. It is not like that, They beat their suppliers to a pulp so that they can offer the lowest price to their customers and in the process businesses have had to cutback on hiring local employees, outsourced to third world countries to meet their demand, people loose good jobs all to buy cheap plastic crap. Their policy is simple, they have to buy at lower prices every time.

They have seduced people with huge jars of brand pickles, they don’t talk about how this pickle company had to struggle for years to become the best pickles and have consumer willing to pay a premium for it. They don’t talk about the fact that giving their product away almost destroyed the business…

Please click through and read her entire post.

This post was written by George, source: America Pink Collar on WalMart

Tim Russo links to WakeUpWalmart.com:

Norman, the big-box opponent, said that in the last decade he has cataloged 300 big-box stores that have been defeated. The most successful fights are those where retailers need a zoning change or their plans conflict with neighborhood comprehensive plans. Regardless, “citizens really have no choice” but to fight, Norman said. “If they don’t fight, they’ll get stuck with a store that makes absolutely no sense.”

Precisely why I’m pointing out the Cuyahoga Valley Initiative. If Steelyard Commons doesn’t conflict with that, I don’t know what does. Read the extended entry for the CVI vision statements.

This post was written by George, source: Fighting Walmart with comprehensive neighborhood plans

On 90.3@9

Callahan with the skinny.

This post was written by George, source: Cimperman v. Ronayne

Don’t miss Jack Ricchiuto’s comment:

If we now have valuable land in the river valley available for the community, we need to have a year-long community dialogue on its best use. If we are lacking stores because the stores we have can’t meet the volume of local market demands, then let’s get some stores going, like yesterday. But for me to support that, I would sure want to see some data saying our current retail vendors cannot create the capacity to meet market needs.

If we have enough retail capacity for current needs, then let’s be creative about what else we may want more of.

Do we want more parks in the city, golf courses, tennis courses, fishing holes, churches, sports fields, bars, coffee houses, libraries, business parks, office spaces, artists communities, housing options, restaurants, museums? What would we want there if we dreamed small … and what would we want there if we actually dreamed BIG?

I’ve added emphasis. Personally, I’d like to see all those things. In high performance buildings. With a view of the river and lake.

This post was written by George, source: Dreaming bigger than Walmart

Quoted from the GoodJobsFirst.org’s report subtitled How Wal-Mart Uses Taxpayer Money to Finance Its Never-Ending Growth, Jeff Hess writes:

A key justification for using taxpayer dollars for corporate subsidies is the idea that a large project will expand overall business activity in an area. Many analysts argue, however, that new retail stores do little more than take revenues away from existing merchants and may put them out of business and leave their workers unemployed. It’s quite possible that a new Wal-Mart store will destroy as many (or more) jobs than it creates — and the Wal-Mart jobs may pay less, meaning that they do less to stimulate the local economy.

This post was written by George, source: Jeff Hess: “Big Box retailing does NOT boost economic growth”

Bill comments on Brian’s email in this post:

Note carefully Brian’s point about what the famous “retail leakage” study actually recommended, as well as County planners’ derailed effort to devise a sustainable development plan for the valley. Then you’ll want to take a look at the Cuyahoga Valley Initiative’s website and the study done last year for the CVI by the Rocky Mountain Institute.

Do you see any strategic basis in there for fast-tracking a plan to cover 130 key riverside acres with a 4,500-space parking lot and a million square feet of cookie-cutter retail?

Me, neither.

Indeed. Bill articulates one of my issues. To me, Steelyard Commons is right smack dab in the middle of the the Cuyahoga Valley Initiative. Is it going to adhere to their principles?

What’s the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission take on this? Kevin? Chris? Paul? What about the Cuyahoga County Commissioners? Jimmy? Peter? Tim? Check out this list of CVI Collaborators. How do you think Lisa and Joe of eQuest feel about it? Holly at E4S? Dan and Pat at GLBC? David Beach @ EcoCity Cleveland? These champions of sustainability are just up the hill from where Steelyards Commons would be.

To think, CVI lists the City of Cleveland as their primary partner.

Better still, I want to know that the funders of the Cuyahoga Vally Initiative think. I’m not sure if David Abbott of the Gund Foundation has time to read BFD, but I’m going to drop him an email regarding my question.

This post was written by George, source: Bill Callahan on Brian Cummins and thoughtful development

More from Tim Russo on Secretly Sacrificing Cleveland History For Walmart:

I didn’t see any cutesy fake steel mill thingies in the “public drawings”, but here’s a theme for ya…the workers in the Walmart will be making a poverty wage, with no benefits or health care, schelpping imported garbage. The entire site will be a black hole in the US trade deficit, a site which once was a contributor to our trade surplus. And it will likely close in its wake many neighborhood stores, many of them paying union wages and benefits. There will be no net plus of jobs.

My comment. Blogging is about openness, transparency, connectedness. The backroom dealings that continue to going on in this town is killing it.

Here’s Patrick @ Five Dollar Beer’s comment:

So…it’s going to be like North Olmsted. great. Sure, I know, I’m not going to be living in Cleveland for too much longer, but 1) I like Cleveland, I love my neighborhood, I don’t want to see this happening and 2) I see this as being symptomatic of a larger problem in cities across the country. I once took a business trip to Eagan, MN and, even though I had to fly to get there, there was literally no difference between the area I stayed there or the ‘burbs around here. I could have easily been in the ‘burbs in Cleveland as in Minnesota. DO we really want our country to look the goddamn same, wherever we go?

What’s your opinion? Please comment here, or at DemocracyGuy.com, or Patrick’s blog, or better yet, post it to your own blog. I’m positive this is going to be an agenda item for tonight’s blogger/podcast meetup.

Will you be there?

This post was written by George, source: Tim Russo: “Mayor Campbell should be ashamed”

How many blogs can Frank Mills start? His latest should be interesting. An excerpt:

Miami 21 is a new planning project underway in the City of Miami. It promises to throw out the antiquated zoning code and start anew to make Miami the city its citizens want it to be. Something I think that Cleveland and the region needs to be doing… mart Cityis a weekly, hour-long public radio talk show that takes an in-depth look at urban life, the people, places, ideas and trends shaping cities. Host Carol Coletta talks with national and international public policy experts, elected officials, economists, business leaders, artists, developers, planners and others for a penetrating discussion of urban issues.

It should be on Cleveland’s NPR! Unfortunately, it is not. Smart City Radio is only available in Cleveland via podcast…

Ha. I’m glad it’s only available on the web. Progressive Clevelanders will seek it out that way.

This post was written by George, source: Cafe Society: Cleveland

Make sure you check out Michael Leaphart’s comment. An excerpt:

i’m originally from alabama, so i think it’s safe to say i’ve been either physically surrounded by or vicariously linked to racism. after moving to NEO, i can honestly say that levels of racism are the same. you have a more open atmosphere for those racists opinions in the south, but here in NEO, they are the same intensity, just not as freely spoken.

that said, i think the actual problem isn’t as much ‘i hate you because the color of your skin’ racism as socio-racism. look at it. alabama, poor state, cleveland, poor city. i’ve seen equal amounts of racism in both places, but i’ve also seen those same feelings of dislike pointed towards people of similar skin tones. you know the term…white trash.

until states/cities can improve the economy & general well-being of it’s populace, racism will continue…

This post was written by George, source: Michael Leaphart on Economic Development

Christine Borne on why libraries matter [by the way, my mom was a librarian in a public school for most of my childhood]:

You may not realize this, but Ohio has the best public libraries in the country. That’s because of the Library and Local Government Support Fund (LLGSF), a statewide honeypot that essentially distributes dollars equitably among richer and poorer districts, allowing a sort of leveling of the playing field so that libraries in seriously depressed areas (like Southeast Ohio) will not have to close their doors when local levies fail.

Now, equal access sounds nice and all, but I don’t think the taxpaying public at large understands much about what public libraries are for…

Go on, click through and read the rest.

This post was written by George, source: NexGen Librarian on Libraries

The Hotel Bruce article Mixed Blessings by Lee Chilcote resonated with me on a number of levels. Immediately, because my father is facilities director for The City Mission, and recently delt with the issue of empty syringes. An excerpt:

“Many city churches are actively involved in community development,” says Mike Tevesz, Director of the Center for Sacred Landmarks at the Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University. “They become magnets and anchors for activity, providing services such as child care, or engaging in housing development. They are a kind of ‘unseen resource’ in their neighborhoods.”

Yet churches are not always sensitive to the needs of their communities, he says. “The question would be, do the congregants come from the neighborhood, or from a greater distance? If they are coming from outside of the neighborhood, then it’s possible that the church would be more responsive to the needs of the congregants.”

Wouldn’t it be great if churches and CDCs were sensitive to the communities needs and vice versa? Imagine the economic growth that would occur if we coupled our faiths and our actions?

This post was written by George, source: Unseen resources

This post by Scott Kovatch keeps me thinking about gambling in Cleveland:

I don’t want to see a casino in Downtown Cleveland, but this whole rent-a-casino for charity or corporate event idea is intriguing to me. I wonder how complicated or hard it would be to run a business like that? Everyone had a great time, and some folks went home with fun prizes. And no one lost their life savings doing it.

My friend John Copic has one of these businesses. It’s family owned, started by his dad 35 years ago. Would it encroach on his business? Probably. Would that cause the charities that utilize his service to lose revenue? Probably. Is anyone thinking of the impact on the local living economy beyond the few low paying jobs it’ll create? Probably not. I’m cynical on the political and business leadership advocating for casinos being system thinkers.

If we’re going to have a casino downtown, how about converting the OLD convention center into a casino? Better yet, let’s make it a big ass datacenter that houses ONLINE GAMBLING instead. I’d say the # of people going someplace to gamble v. the # of people gambling @ home merits some exploration.

This post was written by George, source: Casino night and day